Amal Al-Agroobi is an Emirati documentary filmmaker, director, producer and writer.[1] Her career as a director began in 2012 when her first short documentary Half Emirati premiered at Dubai International Film Festival and was nominated for best film.[2] She is also founder and owner of the production company ALAGROOBI Films. Al-Agroobi has raised money for many of her films through crowdfunding.[3]
Amal Al-Agroobi | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Emirati |
| Occupation | Documentary filmmaker |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Known for | Producer at ALAGROOBI Films |
| Notable work | A Brain that Sings, Half Emirati |
Early life
editAmal Al-Agroobi grew up around Europe to a Syrian mother and an Emirati father from Sharjah.[4] She completed her BSc in Biomedical Sciences from University of Durham and MSc in Neurosciences from University College London.[5] Later on in Abu Dhabi, she worked as a technician in a laboratory. When Al-Agroobi began to take an interest in the cinema industry, she decided to leave her job and sign up in a media training program.[1]
Over the years, Al-Agroobi developed a variety of perspectives in her films, one of them is narrating stories with contemporary Arab focus. Moreover, she created roadmaps that strengthen the connection between the Arab world and the West, and constantly examined cultural intersections.[6]
Career
editAl-Agroobi began her cinema career as a director. Her directorial debut was Half Emirati, a short film about Emirati children of mixed cultures facing certain obstacles, which was released in 2012.[7] The film was produced by her own production company Alagroobi films UAE. Half Emirati, which is a documentary was screened in both the Dubai International Film Festival and the Gulf Film Festival.[8]
Her next critically acclaimed project was The Brain That Sings. The movie received Emirates NBD People's Choice Award in December 2013 at the Dubai International Film Festival. She completed a goodwill documentary for The PCRF charity Climb of Hope, and it was released in 2015.[9]
She has also acted in an episode of The Misfits. Al-Agroobi's social and humanitarian work caused her to work on a TV-web series titled "Proud to be a Sharjonian", showing off her hometown of Sharjah.[10]
Her first fictional narrative short movie was released in 2016 titled "Under the Hat", about a pious mosque prayer caller who begins to lose his voice and turns to his neighbor, a vocalist in a music band, seeking a substitute.[3][11] The film was the winner of Doha Film Institute grant for the category short movies.[12][13]
In 2014, her life story was published in a book titled "Those Who inspire" showcasing 60 inspiring Emiratis and again in 2015 in a coffee-table book labeled "Emirati Woman Achievers" where she was one of the 21 people who shared their story of inspiration in the middle east.[14][15]
In 2019, Al-Agroobi began her sci-fi journey when she published her first sci-fi short film Vanish In Smoke, it tells a story about an advanced world where the aging of minds is reversible. In 2021, she released the second film The Protocol, about an extremely expensive medicine that has the potential to increase life expectancy by 50 years. Both films were created in just 48 hours for the sci-fi London film festival challenge.[16][17]
In her latest work, Ladies Coffee, she experiments with the horror genre encapsulating Arabic folklore such as coffee-cup reading. The film, currently in post-production, is shot in London and is expected to be released later in 2023.[7]
Awards
edit| Year | Awards |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Digital Studio Awards for Best Up and Coming Filmmaker of the Year[18] |
| 2014 | Digital Studio Awards Best Production (special commendation) for The Brain That Sings[19] |
| 2014 | The People's Choice Award at the Dubai International Film Festival[20][21] |
| 2014 | Women in Film and Television honored as Best New Director[22] |
References
edit- ^ a b "Amal Al Agroobi's 90% Psyche". www.gulftoday.ae. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Amal Al Agroobi: Emirati neuroscientist-turned-filmmaker is more than a one-hit wonder". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ a b Goodfellow2014-12-12T08:37:00+00:00, Melanie. "Al-Agroobi set to make fiction debut". Screen. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Emirati Filmmaker Amal Al-Agroobi Looks to Dispel Prejudice and Ruffle Some Feathers with 'Doris Domestic'". HuffPost. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ Hamdan, Sara. "An Internet Angel for a Documentary". New York Times. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "Emirati filmmaker Amal Al-Agroobi's guide to Expo 2020 Dubai". www.mime.news. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ a b Newbould, Chris (20 August 2020). "Why Emirati director Amal Al Agroobi is zooming in on horror films: 'Everything I do has an Arab spin'". The National. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ Kantaria, Annabel. "What does it feel like to be half-Emirati?". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "The Brain That Sings by Amal Al Agroobi and Autism Awareness Campaign". TheCulturist.com. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ Ahmed, Afshan. "Filmmaker Amal Al Agroobi promotes Sharjah through her webisodes". The National. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "Under the Hat | Malmo Arab Film Festival". www.maffswe.com. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ Vivarelli, Nick. "Doha Film Institute Announces Its New Round of Grants Winners". Variety.com. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "Amal Al Agroobi". litfest-archives. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "Emirati Women Achievers book unveiled". TradeArabia. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "Coffee-table book highlights 21 female Emirati achievers". TheNational. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ Vanish in Smoke (Short 2019) - IMDb, retrieved 8 May 2023
- ^ The Protocol (Short 2021) - IMDb, retrieved 8 May 2023
- ^ Newbould, Chris. "Digital Studio Awards". Digital Productions. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "PREVIOUS WINNERS". ITP.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "THE BRAIN THAT SINGS WINS 'PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD'". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ Staff Report. "Cinema Emirati celebrates best of UAE filmmaking". GulfNews. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "Emirati Documentary 'The Brain That Sings' wins 'Best Film' in the Emirates NBD People's Choice Award category at DIFF". Two Four 54. Retrieved 20 September 2015.